


caught in your love (I'm waking up)

by Hellokaelyn



Series: Fictober 2020 [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, Referenced Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26783866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: Tears fell and sobs began to wrack her body. She almost lost him, she almost lost the love of her life.Sequel to caught in a bad dream
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Series: Fictober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949200
Comments: 12
Kudos: 26





	caught in your love (I'm waking up)

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to caught in a bad dream (wake me up)!  
> I don't know Hebrew so hopefully the wording I used is correct
> 
> Prompt: "that's the easy part"

None of it was new to McGee. Losing people, bodies, crime scenes, blood..especially the blood—but there was something entirely different about the experience when seeing someone you know, someone you've known for  _ years _ , surrounded by blood.

McGee felt bile rise in his throat at his first sight of Nick. There was so much blood. He wasn't going to admit to anyone that he let out a sob when he found a pulse.

Nick was alive.

And that's what he tried to focus on pacing the waiting room, phone in his hand from calling the main people who needed to know. Delilah so she'd know where he was and to contact Nick's family, Gibbs,...and Ellie. 

Who hung up without a word but he heard it, the sound of her loud cry before the line cut off. 

Gibbs was the first to show up, slowing his run towards McGee the closer he got but stopped short as his eyes landed on the blood.

McGee tried not to think about the blood covering his clothes, staining his skin. 

He explained everything he knew—the longer he talked, the more the guilt and something else he couldn’t pinpoint filled Gibbs’s eyes. There would be  _ a lot _ of guilt going around. McGee didn’t feel bad for them at all, they deserved it for abandoning Nick when he  _ needed _ them. Anger flowed through him but that was common since Nick returned. Ziva and Tony were the  _ only _ ones who weren’t angry at Nick besides himself, but they had a life in Paris they couldn’t press pause on to come out. 

McGee avoided them all besides Delilah the best he could, even moving down to Cybercrimes when he couldn’t look at them anymore without being disgusted. Everything they’ve been through together, thrown away and for what? A relationship that would end up okay in the end? He  _ knew _ it would because Nick and Ellie were like Ziva and Tony in that regard, meant to be. 

_ Crap _ .

He looked at Gibbs, holding up his phone. The older man nodded right as others came running down the hospital hallway, he didn’t look to see if Ellie was with them before turning the corner. Once in a quiet place he leaned against the wall, bringing the phone to his ear.

* * *

Ziva stood in front of the window overlooking the beautiful yard below when her phone rang. Reaching for it, all she had to do was see Tim calling her to feel a heavy feeling in her chest.

“Tim?”

_ “Ziva…” _

She swallowed the feeling rising in her throat. “What happened to him?”

_“He-”_ Tim sighed deeply. _“Something didn’t feel right so I went back to his apartment and got his landlord to let me in..there was so much blood Ziva..”_

“Tim-” She choked out, tears clouding her vision that she blinked away. “What did he do?”

_ “He tried killing himself, there- there was a knife-” _

Ziva sat down on the bed heavily, hand over her forehead gripping the phone tightly. “Is there any news?”

_ “None that I know of um- I should get back for when there is but you and Tony deserved to know.” _

“Thank you Tim.” She said low, voice cracking. “I will be there soon.”

_ “Ziva-” _

“I have to.” Ziva said, cutting him off. “I have not known Nicholas long but he’s important.”

_ “Okay uh- okay. I’ll see you soon then.” _

Ziva hung up and dropped the phone onto the bed, burying her face in her hands as her emotions overwhelmed her. She should have been there sooner. 

“Hey, what’s going on?”

She cleared her throat and stood, walking over to Tony who was watching her with furrowed brows. “Nicholas is in the hospital..”

Tony understood by the look on her face. He let out a breath and cupped her face in his hands. She smiled sadly and gripped his wrists, looking back into his eyes. “You’re going aren’t you?”

“Yes.” Ziva said softly. 

Tony’s eyes softened even more. “It’s that phone call isn’t it?”

“That and more.” 

He nodded and leaned forward pressing his lips to her forehead before pulling away. “I’ll book your ticket?”

“Thank you.” She said with a nod.

When he left she dropped back down onto the footrest at the end of their bed, shoulders feeling heavy. That phone call. She’d been in bed beside Tony about to drift off when her phone rang. Not her normal phone, but one that couldn’t be traced and was under a different name, she and Tony weren’t agents any longer but you never knew what could happen—they learned that many times. Only Gibbs and the others had that number, and so she jumped up and dug it out of the drawer, thankfully not waking Tony as she walked out of the room. 

It was Nick on the other end, a hysterical sobbing Nick who sounded utterly  _ broken _ . 

He was calling her from a burn phone while undercover and hiding out in an alley. Ziva still felt her stomach churn as he talked about the case involving children. As he cried and struggled to breathe through a panic attack, the case being one of the worst he’d ever been on he said, one he wasn’t sure he was going to survive. Ziva’s motherly instincts struggled, wanting to kick in, wanting to call Vance or whoever else to  _ beg _ , to  _ plead  _ to fight that they pull him out. Her heart broke the more he talked, the more she talked to him through his panic. She hadn’t known him that well, but in that moment none of that mattered.

She understood why Eleanor did all she did, but she also understood Nicholas to a degree she didn’t think anyone else would except maybe Gibbs—which is why she was so disappointed in Gibbs for not supporting Nicholas like he did everyone else for  _ everything _ . 

A tear slid down her cheek that she quickly wiped away while packing a bag. 

_ Hang in there ach tza'ir.  _

* * *

Ellie stood outside his room, hand resting upon the glass window. Nick’s bandaged wrists stood out against his tan skin even with how pale he looked, but what made her choke up were his restraints. Only moments ago Nick woke up and was agitated enough that his doctor wanted it as a precaution for not only Nick but for others. Ellie saw the doctor with a red mark on his face and knew. 

She looked behind her to see McGee chewing out the others except for Gibbs who was down the hall talking with Nick’s doctor. She couldn’t even look at them. Not after finding out they were lying to her. All this time she thought Nick had their team, their family—but he didn’t. Not only did her heart hurt but she was afraid to reach out to him after hearing he was back, and so she asked all of them for updates on Nick—and each of them told her he wasn’t great but he was okay, except for McGee who refused to tell her anything but she thought nothing of it because he was rightfully angry with her, who was she to think anything different when the people she trusted told her there wasn’t anything wrong?

If she knew they all turned their backs on him...things would have been different.  _ She _ would’ve been different. 

Ellie looked down the hall to see Nick’s doctors back facing her direction. They were told not to go in as he needed rest. She swallowed the lump in her throat remembering hearing how Nick’s body was weak from lack of hydration and nutrition, Nick was starving and depriving himself along with not sleeping.

_ Screw it _ she thought, taking one last look before slipping into the room. 

Pain in her chest grew insanely once pulling up the chair to sit beside him, wrapping her hand around his. Ellie still loved him with all her heart, that didn’t and never would change. She was so sure Nick would be okay  _ because _ he was Nick, but a feeling in her gut told her there was more going on, most likely his time undercover.

Tears fell and sobs began to wrack her body. She almost lost him, she almost lost the love of her life.

* * *

Ziva felt herself fuming standing beside Nick’s hospital bed only two hours after she landed. Minutes ago she was in the waiting room giving all of them a piece of her mind. She felt good seeing the guilt on their faces, they deserved nothing more as far as she was concerned. This could have been prevented easily enough. 

“You will wake up Nicholas, you will get through this.” She told him firmly, hand gripping his. 

Hearing the door open, she spun around to see a stunned Eleanor. 

“Oh um- I- I can come back-” Ellie said weakly, turning back around.

“Eleanor sit down.”

Ellie fidgeted her fingers turning to slowly sit in the chair against the wall. 

“I am not going to yell or tell you what you did was wrong.” 

“You’re not? But-”

“I’ve done things to Tony I am not proud of.” Ziva told her, letting go of his hand to stand in front of her. “I treated him sometimes in ways that were horrible, even if he did not deserve them. I understood what you did just like I understood Nicholas and his actions, but let me tell you this Eleanor..do not give up. Giving up, that's the easy part, and the route to happiness is never easy."

“W-What?” Ellie’s eyes were wide and watery looking up at Ziva. 

“Do not give up on him, do not give up on love. I gave up on Tony many times when I should not have and it made our journey tougher then it had to be. Nicholas and his need for going undercover was what the problem was, yes?”

“Yeah..” Ellie sniffled. “I just wanted him home with me even if it sounds selfish.”

“I do not think that will be a problem any longer. Nicholas called me not too long before his case closed, it was not a good phone call and he made it very clear he could not do it anymore.” 

Ziva walked over and rested her hand on her shoulder before she could say a word, giving it a squeeze. “This is your time Eleanor, this is your time with him, do not waste any more of it.”

* * *

She ran down the hospital hallway ignoring the shouts to slow down, her breaths coming out heavily.

Nick was awake.  _ Nick was awake _ . That was all that mattered to her. 

She stopped short at his room, panting out breaths feeling sweat run down her neck. Figures he’d finally wake up when she left the hospital to take a shower at home and change her clothes. 

Ellie felt her heart race entering the room slowly. 

A sob fell from her lips the second his tired eyes met hers, she put her hand over her mouth at an attempt to cover it. Slowly she walked over to him, taking quick note of his restraints being gone. His tired eyes followed her every move but he didn’t tell her to go away or pull his hand from hers when she gently grabbed it. 

“I’m sorry Nick, I’m so sorry.” She breathed out in a whisper.

His hand squeezed hers lightly, so light she barely felt it. Ellie figured squeezing any more would be painful. 

“Ellie.” He roughly whispered, eyes searching hers as if needing confirmation it was real.  _ She _ was real.

Sniffling, she leaned forward, hand coming up to his cheek smoothing her thumb along his skin resting her forehead against his. Gently she touched her lips to his, heart pounding fearing this would draw the line for him. Nick though, moved his lips weakly against hers only serving to make her heart race for an entirely different reason. 

Pulling away, there was a small lift to his lips making hers do the same. Forehead back against his and looking into his eyes, her eyes watered again. 

“I love you Nick, I never stopped. I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing if I have to.”

“Love you.” He said low, tired and voice cracking.

Elllie laughed in relief and happiness at hearing the words, his smile grew. 

She leaned in again, this time his hand shakily came up and cupped her cheek.

Everything wasn’t solved in this moment, but it was a beautiful start to an even more beautiful life. 


End file.
